Stone Crabs rout Marauders, 10–2 to force Game 3

Posted by Nancy Guenther Chapman on September 9th, 2010 at 12:54 am

By Grant McAuley, Char­lotte Stone Crabs broadcaster

PORT CHARLOTTE  — The Stone Crabs enjoyed a big night with the bats and got a strong start from Joe Cruz on their way to a con­vinc­ing 10–2 vic­tory over the Braden­ton Maraud­ers in Game 2 of the FSL Divi­sion Series on Wednes­day night at Char­lotte Sports Park.

Stephen Vogt’s two-hit, three-RBI night was one of many pro­duc­tive show­ings enjoyed by the Char­lotte order. Tim Beck­ham fin­ished 2-for-3 with an RBI and three runs scored, and Greg Sex­ton came through with two hits and a pair of RBI’s as the Stone Crabs evened up the Divi­sion Series at a game apiece.

The Stone Crabs out­hit The Maraud­ers for the sec­ond con­sec­u­tive night, but this time was able to use those hits to put together a pair of big innings and force a deci­sive third game of the series.

Braden­ton starter Brian Leach was nearly per­fect through the first three frames. Only a first inning walk to Tim Beck­ham blem­ished Leach’s first turn through the Char­lotte order.

Cruz was in com­mand of the Maraud­ers through­out much of the early going as well, with a hand­ful of infield hits and bro­ken bat flairs rep­re­sent­ing the bulk of the Braden­ton offen­sive attack.

A throw­ing error on a play at the plate and a walk with the bases loaded com­bined to spot a pair of runs to the Maraud­ers in the top of the fourth.

The tone began to change in the bot­tom of the inning, when Leach rou­tinely fell behind hit­ters and pro­vided the Stone Crabs offense with a chance to start chip­ping away at a 2–0 Braden­ton lead.

Sex­ton put Char­lotte on the board in the home half of the fourth with a sin­gle that scored Beck­ham with Charlotte’s first run of the series. That snapped a string of 12 score­less innings thrown at Stone Crabs hit­ters by the Maraud­ers’ pitch­ing staff.

Trail­ing 2–1 an inning later, Matt Hall’s one-out sin­gle was fol­lowed by a dou­ble off the bat of Chris Mur­rill that gave the Char­lotte a bonafide threat for their first lead in the series. Reid Fronk’s grounder to first brought in the tying run, and then Leach began to fall apart with the game tied 2–2 and two outs in the frame.

Beck­ham stroked an oppo­site field go-ahead hit that turned into a triple when Maraud­ers cen­ter fielder Star­ling Marte mis­played the ball and allowed it to roll to the wall. That hit chased home Mur­rill to give Char­lotte a 3–2 advantage.

The fifth inning trou­bles for Leach would not end there as Char­lotte increased their lead to 5–2. Vogt ripped a dou­ble into the right field cor­ner to score Beck­ham, and Sex­ton fol­lowed with a run-scoring sin­gle that plated Vogt to cap the four-run rally.

Leach (0−1) was out of the game by the time the frame came to a close, depart­ing after 4 2/3 innings. He was charged with five runs — all earned — on six hits and three walks.

Charlotte’s offense did not set­tle for just one big inning. Ten men went to the plate in the sev­enth to add five more runs to the tally. Vogt was at it again, shoot­ing a dou­ble into the left field cor­ner to drive in a pair of runs. Jake Jef­feries stroked a run-scoring sin­gle and later came around to score on Matt Hall’s two-run sin­gle that put Char­lotte ahead 10–2.

Cruz (1−0) notched the win by pro­vid­ing his club with yet another in a seem­ingly end­less string of strong appear­ance. Not set­tling for a 9–2 record and a 1.49 ERA in 14 starts after the All-Star break, Cruz hand­cuffed the Maraud­ers for just two earned runs on seven hits in 6 2/3 innings. He walked one and struck out seven men.

Shane Dyer worked the final 2 1/3 innings after Cruz departed to a stand­ing ova­tion in the sev­enth. It was busi­ness as usual for Dyer, who diced up the hap­less Maraud­ers lineup to the tune of two hits and a pair of strikeouts.

The series con­cludes on Thurs­day as the Stone Crabs turn to right-hander Alex Colome (0−0, 0.00) in the deci­sive Game 3 show­down. Braden­ton will counter with righty Nathan Adcock (11−7, 3.38). First pitch is sched­uled for 7:05 p.m.

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